Sandy & Frank - I didn't see a dust storm. It doesn't surprise me though as we get them a lot during the monsoon season.

Frank - That is so cool that you saw a coyote. When I lived in my townhome and would walk in the morning there was this one coyote that would always be out walking on the sidewalk. It would just look at me like it was saying good morning. lol

Oh and I love, love, love to watch the javelinas. The babies are just so cute and they stick by their parents like glue. At DBF's "normal" house they would roam all around. He lives on 1 1/4 acre. He decided once to start putting potatoes out for them. They actually would come up to the porch right by us to eat. One even got up on the porch and tried to get in the house!!!! Now, javelinas STINK!!! You smell them long before they get there. lol.

Fin - We're supposed to get a lot of rain over the next few days. So I am with you on staying in. Actually, the temp is nice right now but it is humid. No walk this morning.:(

Renee - I hope you get to rest today. Still saying prayers that you will get one of the jobs you applied for.

Kay - That is so cool. I love sitting back and watching some of the wild life (as I mentioned above to Frank). It amazes me. Kind of a funny story . . .My dad is a deacon in our church. One year a group from the church went up in to the mountains to camp. My dad was going up there to do a communion service and asked if I wanted to go. So I did. We get up there and were talking to everyone, etc., etc.

As we stood talking, I saw a bear. I stood there and watched this bear coming in to the campsite. It was amazing and I was so in to watching it. It was cool. Then I just looked at my dad and the group he was talking to and said there's a bear. I was calm as could be. Once everyone realized what I had said, chaos broke out. LOL Everyone still gives me a hard time about that as I was just too calm and said it as if I had seen a dog or cat or something "common."

Hi everyone else I missed. Hope you all have a good day.

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Today I am going to work on my car a bit - coolant light is on - checked it yesterday and it is dangerously low. So I am going to top off all the fluids and have scheduled to bring it in next week to our mechanic friends as there may be a leak somewhere.:(

Oh my, it's been so long since I posted on this thread. Things are just so dang busy and my home laptop is not behaving itself and I'm too tired and cognitively fried when I get home to deal with it!! So, I'm only reading from work right now.

My kids went back to school on Monday. One is in 3rd (first year at Intermediate School) and other is in 6th grade (first year at Middle School) so this is a big transition year for us. So far, so good. I think the 6th grader was really ready to change classes and have more options and responsibility. I do hate the first week of school, though. It is an endless stream of forms to fill out and lists of things they need to bring in.

The 11 year old decided not to play football this fall. This bums me out but also relieves me of the time burden. Now, both boys will play fall baseball which is more relaxed and much less in the way of time draining.

We are in the process of redoing both bathrooms as we had some leak problems that resulted in both bathrooms being pretty messed up. The shower upstairs was leaking through the wall into the one right below it!! So, I got two screwed up bathrooms for the price of well TWO!! Luckily DH and I can do the work, so it is just materials, but it is still enough to spend. In the end, we will have two really nice bathrooms, though.

Grandma is doing really well. Now that she is in a routine and is more settled in my house, her memory isn't as bad. Her short term memory is still bad, but way better than it was. Sadly, for me, I think she remembers better than me a lot of the time.

Well, I have to get back to work. Hopefully, I will stay more caught up on this now.

I had an idea about keeping the thread short. How about Daily Insights for the week of 8-25-08 through 8-31-08 and so on. That way, each thread is for one week. No one thread will ever get too long. Just an idea....

hey Char ...

think POSITIVE about the algebra ... keep an open mind and you will pass with flying colors .. I believe in you!!

(I had to take a stats class this last winter/spring ... online! .. and hadn't had any schooling for over 20 years ... it was challenging ... but, I surprised myself and got an A!!)

Hey all! We've already been on the phone with the doctor. Jim's leg spasms are at their peak and the doctor is thinking UTI AGAIN. He has a strong urgency so I will be dropping off a spec in a little while. He also up'd Jim's baclofen to four times a day and if that doesn't work, we'll stop that and try up'ing Tizantidine.

Trish, glad you didn't get the dust. It was in Phoenix I think.

Jenn, it's nice here but I can feel the humidity. Looks like the air will go back on on here.

Renee, I am glad you chilling today. You've been a busy bee the past several days.

Holly, welcome back. Was wondering where you ran off.

Char, I flunked algebra in college by mid term. I dropped it before it counted and took it as an independent study and passed with a C. I also bought a book but can't remember the name of it. It was a paperback, black cover with yellow writing. If you see a book like that, but it. I am going to look for it today and send it to you if you want it and I find it. It was the best book ever, for me anyway. Easy to understand and practice testing.

Frank, we had a coyote attack here last year and they killed a little dog. :(

Weave, I hope the package comes today! That is terrible that they couldn't give hubby something. BUT, we know what you mean about meds. When Jim went off gabapentin and valium he's felt much better. Makes you wonder why docs don't try to ween every once in awhile to see if it's needed anymore.

Kay, thanks for that visual. I wish we had animals walking around our yard like that.

Kitty, glad it stopped raining. My sister in Huntsville said they haven't seen the sun in days. That new hurricane looks bad and they are saying it could still be a cat3 by the time it hits LA. :(

Sarah, how are you feeling today?

Vonn, how are you doing? I bet it's pretty by the lake today.

Barb, are you near UIUC? I wont ask the exact for obvious reasons but I was in grad school there.

Take care everyone and I hope I didn't leave anyone out and if I did I am so sorry. :grouphug:

My mom's general doc is a NP too. My mom said she has never met the "real" doctor. lol

Jim's doc just up'd his baclofen and now I am remembering something about baclofen making spasms worse or something. I might be wrong but I am going to research it. I think, now I am not a doctor but, I believe the spasms are related to his possible UTI. I am going to watch and if they get better on antibiotics we will go back down to his normal regimen. Sometimes I think we know more than the docs!

Hi everyone! I am so tired right now that I want to cry.:Sob: Instead I have to go back to school in 15 minutes for another class. I came home for lunch. :Starvin:This one (grad class) is 1 hour and 40 minutes long. I am team teaching it so I only have to be there for 4 wednesdays so it should not be too bad. I should not have stayed up to watch Hilary's speech knowing that I had to be at school early today. Oh well -- live and learn. I don't really want to cry. I just want to take a nap.:Zzzz:

Sandy -- The university I teach at is one hour south of Champaign/Urbana.

Hope everyone is having a good day. Sorry I do not have time to respond to all of your posts. So, I will just say hey to all of you! :OuttaHere:

Barb, don't worry about the speeches and staying up. Cnn.com has all of them for you to view at your leisure. :hug:

I often think that about some doctors. They are some of the most amazing people out there in that they have so much medical knowledge and take an oath to save lives. BUT, I also think because they cover so many diseases and ailments, they can't possibly get down to the nitty gritty of what works for one doesn't always work for others. It seems they get caught up in the "generic" therapies and assume everyone is the same. We were not all created as a one size fits all and therefore need independent treatments.